In the latest podcast uploaded to KQEK.com’s YouTube channel, composer Darius Holbert discusses his entry into film scoring, composing the music for Jason Eisener’s grisly and fun Hobo with a Shotgun (2011), the sounds of vintage synths, scoring the series Quick Draw (2013) in the domain of original programming by online film / TV providers, and the music of Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (2012), Teddy Saunders’ clever translation of Dr. Seuss’ final book.

As Holbert says in the interview (also available as an MP3 download from Libsyn and SoundCloud), people have written appreciative emails regarding the music, and it’s well deserved, because it nails the tone of the prose as spoken by people of Burning Man.

Because YouTube only accepts videos instead of straight MP3s of podcasts, I’ve added some graphics to the program, including some abstract textures that appear whenever there’s music playing. This podcast features three pieces derived entirely from the same chunk of 3 mins. of footage, respectively supporting music extracts from The Walking Wounded (2008), Hobo with a Shotgun (2011), and Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (2012).

To see more stills like this and links to the extracted animation sequences, visit my filmmaking blog at Big Head Amusements. There are stills aplenty – but don’t look at them until you’ve seen the short compilation Animation Extracts #01.

Also uploaded is a film review of Hobo with a Shotgun. Eisener’s clearly a fan of home video (a connoisseur of VHS, he appears in the 2013 doc Rewind This!), and the EOne Blu-ray’s packed with all kinds of supportive extras. Fingers crossed he’s working on another feature film.

Hobo is a celebration of the lurid, graphic material found in features which built up a cult status on home video and gave foreign imports and drive-in fodder new lives, often due to teasing cover art and a quotient of material so offensive it could only be described as Wrong (which means it’s good).

Street Trash (1987) is a perfect example of classic cinematic wrongness, recently released on Blu by Synapse in a similarly packed special edition. There’s something insane about noted film restorer / preservationist Robert H. Harris devoting time away from chi-chi classics like Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to Street Trash, but hey, the benefits are aplenty: not only is the transfer pristine, but the colours glow. It’s a superb HD transfer of this infamous movie where taking a swig of Tenefly Viper booze causes one to liquefy into Day-Glo crap. The movie’s not for all tastes – it has its share of narrative problems and isn’t exactly a favourable portrait of disenfranchised, homeless folks – but there aren’t many films where you’ll see an exploding hobo, or a game of catch involving a severed hoo-ha.

Clips from Street Trash appeared in Severin’s excellent doc Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005), and the label is set to release a North American version of Video Nasties: The Definitve Guide, originally produced & released by Britain’s Nucleus Films in a Region 2 set.

The next podcast at KQEK.com will (finally) feature a lengthy discussion with Rewind This! director Josh Johnson, with some original visuals.

Planned for mid-June is a review of Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector (2013), directed by Dan M. Kinem and Levi Peretic. Like Rewind This! the doc is available in multiple editions – physical, digital, and a special bundle – and I have to figure out the best way to cover as much of the extras as possible. And similar to the bonus short-short The Magic Beta Box(2014) I created for the Rewind piece, in the works is a bonus short that’s tied to the Tracking review.